The cold couldn't keep us out anyway
by Kamechan98
Summary: Donnie needs some reassurance that he really is forgiven by his family and gets some from his brother. Set after 'The Winter Storm of my Brother's Heart'.


The cold couldn't keep us out anyway

**A/N: ****Okay, before anyone asks me about it, yes I know that I am writing another story, but I actually plan on deleting it and maybe upload it later when I have more inspiration for it. I had ideas for it before but now I just don't. ****Instead I plan on uploading my re-write of my TMNT-Frozen story, so be sure to look out for that. But I thought I should give you something and I came up with this.**

**OBS! This one-shot takes place about a week after my first TMNT-Frozen story, The Winter Storm of My Brother's Heart, ended. So if you haven't read that story, you probably won't understand a lot of what they're talking about in this story, just know, you have been warned. **

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(Donnie's P.O.V)

I tossed and turned in my bed and tried so hard to fall asleep, but couldn't. I tried everything I could think of, from counting sheep to read through some of my journals and books but nothing worked. I kept thinking of what had happened about a week earlier. It had been a week since 'The Big Blizzard' but every time that specific door closed, I had flashbacks to when the ice, snow and frost covered my lab and icicles grew from the ceiling, reminding me of how it had been before when I locked myself away in my lab or my room and wouldn't even talk to my family. Everything was back to the ways it should be, I had nothing to complain about, so why did I still get anxious when I walked into my lab or my room?

I groaned and slowly got up to my feet. This wasn't helping me sleep at all. I decided to go and get a glass of warm milk that would hopefully help me get some sleep. I slowly opened my door and stepped out into the corridor and looked out. My brothers doors were closed (not that I expected anything else) and I quietly stepped out of my room and closed the door behind me. I looked at Mikey's door and a thought entered my head. I thought it over, and then I walked up to Mikey's door, opened it and slipped in and quietly closed the door.

Mikey had never been good at keeping his room clean or keep his things in a good place, so I wasn't surprised by the mess in his room. What _did_ surprise me however was _how_ Mikey was sleeping. Somehow his head had rolled off his pillow and then his head had fallen out of the bed and hanging over the floor while he was mumbling something about talking pizza eating calzone. I smiled and shook my head at him, before I walked up to him, grabbed him by the shoulders, lifted him and placed his head on his pillow. The second his head touched the pillow, Mikey nuzzled his head deeper into the soft material and mumbled something in his sleep and smiled in his sleep. I couldn't fight the smile that danced over my face, took the taped together teddy bear that had fallen to the floor and placed it under Mikey's arm and he instantly hugged it close and nuzzled his face even deeper into pillow. I smiled at him, leaned down and kissed him on the temple.

"Good night Mikey. Sleep tight." I whispered before I as quietly as I could walked out of his room and closed the door as quietly as I could. As I closed the door, my eyes fell on Raph's door and I thought over whether I should go in or not. Raph didn't like it when people was in his room, especially when he didn't know about it. I looked over at Leo's door too, but before I even considered going in I remembered that he was a light sleeper and would probably wake up the second I walked into his room. So I rejected the thought immediately and walked off the kitchen instead. Both Raph and Leo could take care of themselves and neither of them had had nightmares since we were kids, if you don't count times like when we fought the Shredder for the first time or after our first showdown with the Kraang and Leo sacrificed himself to save us, so it didn't seem like I needed to check up on them.

The kitchen was, as suspected, empty and I immediately walked up the stove. I decided I wanted a cup of soothing tea instead of a glass of water since Splinter said it helped you relax and that sounded like something that could help me at the moment. As I prepared the tea, turned on the stove and placed the kettle on the plate I thought over why I couldn't sleep. I had had trouble sleeping the past few days and I couldn't quite out my finger on why. Ugh, okay yes I could. Ever since this whole mess started with the fight with Timothy, the ice-mutagen in my bloodstream, locking myself away and everything after my secret was revealed. Why did my family forgive me so easily? I did so many things that hurt them and even turned on them and they still forgave me. Why?

"Donnie?" I jumped at the sudden voice and turned to the drapery that served as the kitchen door. Leo stood there with a concerned frown on his face, and I groaned inwardly. I had managed to wake him up, even though I had tried to be quiet. Some ninja I was. I looked Leo in the eyes and tried to look normal.

"Hey Leo. What're you doing up?" Leo slipped in through the drapery and walked up to me.

"Same reason as you. I guess you couldn't sleep either huh?" I shook my head and then heard the tea boiling over and quickly grabbed the pot and lifted it off the stove and placed it on the counter. I open one of the cupboards and took out a cup and looked over at Leo.

"You want a cup?" Leo smiled lightly.

"Sure." I took out one more cup, poured tea into them and handed one over to Leo before we both sat down at the kitchen table. While I carefully sipped the hot tea so it wouldn't burn my tongue or lips, I noticed that Leo sat across the table and just stared at me with concerned eyes that seemed to try and see into my mind. I looked up and looked at my older brother with a raised eyebrow.

"What? What are you staring at?" Leo seemed to snap out of a trance, shook his head lightly before he looked back at me.

"I was just wondering what's bothering you. I mean, I can see in your eyes that something's not right, so do you care to tell me? You know you can trust me, right?" out of my instinct my answer at first was going to be no, but I immediately remembered what I had said right after 'The Big Blizzard' had ended. _"I'm through with closed doors and sitting alone with my fears. I'm never gonna shut you guys out, ever again. And that's a promise." _I sighed and looked down into my tea cup and watched what little reflection I could see of myself in the beverage.

"Why did you forgive me so easily before?" Leo looked at me with an raised eyebrow, tilted his head to the side and just looked confused.

"What do you mean 'why did we forgive you so easily?' Didn't you want us to forgive you for what happened before?" I looked up and nodded quickly.

"Yes, yes, yes! Of course i did! But it feels like you forgave me a bit too easily, like, like I should've proven that I really was sorry instead of just saying the word 'sorry'. I mean, actions speak louder than words you know." Leo didn't say anything, but then I felt him reach over the table and grabbed one of my hands tightly. I looked up from the tea and looked Leo in the eyes.

"Donnie, you don't have to prove that you're sorry. You've already proven that you're sorry and regretted what happened before." I felt confused. Already proven I was sorry? When? When did I prove that? I yanked my hand away from Leo's.

"I have? When did I prove that? When I tried to kick you out of my ice palace? Or when I turned my back on you and gave in to the cold inside me? Or, wait, I know! Maybe when I attacked you in Shredder's place and left you for dead?!" As I talked I had walked away from the table and turned my back to Leo so he couldn't see the tears that threatened to fall from my eyes.

But suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder and the touch surprisingly felt really good for once since I had gotten so used to stay away from any kind of physical touch and I still tried to get used being touched again. But I refused to look up from the floor, I still refused to show my tears.

"How about when you changed your mind and turned back to the good path again? Or when you raced against the clock _and_ the cold to get back to us? Or maybe when you jumped in between me and Karai and saved my life?" Realization filled my head when I heard all the times he thought I had 'redeemed' myself and I looked up from the floor and looked at Leo over my shoulder. he had a small smile on his face and his eyes showed nothing but comfort and reassurance. I tried to smile back but I knew it looked forced.

"But Leo, I still think you're overlooking things. Like how are you so sure that it won't happen again? I mean, what's to say that the cold or my fears won't get a hold of me again and turn me away from you again or that I won't get lost in a new snow storm? For all we know it could happen again. The cold is a part of me and that'll never really change. A part of me will always be the Snow King and that won't change either. How can you be so sure that it won't happen again." Leo looked at me with a raised eyebrow before he smiled lightly with comforting eyes and his grip on my shoulder tightened and he turned me around so he could look me in the eyes.

"Because if it does happen again we'll know why and what we can do to help you. And you know what?" I felt slightly scared of what he had to say next, but I tried not to show it. I shrugged and shook my head.

"I'm afraid to ask but, what?" He smiled and took his hand off my shoulder and grabbed both of my hands in a tight grip.

"No matter what life will throw at us, no matter what you'll do and no matter how things turn out in the end, you'll always be our brother and best friend. It doesn't matter what you do or who you choose to be, you'll always be part of our family and we'll always love you. And no snow storm and no eternal winter will ever make us change our minds. And,_ the cold couldn't keep us out anyway._" He half-sang the last part and although the corny joke made me roll my eyes and snort slightly, I couldn't help but feel touched by his words. I felt tears threaten to fall from my eyes, but this time I let them fall down my cheeks. Leo saw that and he reached out, put his arms around me and I gratefully returned the gesture.

"Thanks Leo." I mumbled into his shoulder and he just tightened his arms around my shell and I heard him laugh kindly.

"Anytime buddy." I slowly let go of Leo and took my tea cup from the table and poured the remains down in the sink, washed it with water thoroughly before I put it back in the cupboard and grabbed the kettle to do the same with it, but first I turned to Leo.

"You're not gonna have anymore tea are you?" He shook his head and grabbed his tea cup and sipped on the now lukewarm beverage.

"Nah, and you can leave it there. I'll wash it before I go to back bed. You should go back to sleep. You look a bit tired." It was first then I realized that I had yawned a few times now and I nodded before I said a quick good night and walked over to the drapery, but before I walked out I heard Leo call out to me and I turned around.

"Yeah?" Leo leaned against the counter with his tea cup in his hand and smiled lightly at me.

"You know, I don't think I mind having a 'Snow King' for a brother. He's cooler and more fun than the ordinary brother I had a few weeks back who just sat in his room all day." I smiled widely at the compliment and then walked over to Leo again. Before he could react I gave him a quick hug.

"Thank you, for not giving up on me." That was all I said before I quickly walked out of the room and walked back to my bedroom. When I came to the corridor where our bedrooms where, I saw Raph standing in his doorway, squinting at me with tired and annoyed eyes.

"What are you doing up? Shouldn't you be sleeping?" I smiled at my brother's comment before I walked back to my room and opened the door.

"Yeah, I should. And now I can, now that I've gotten the answers I was looking for." I didn't keep the door open long enough for Raph to answer, I just closed the door and laid back down on my bed and pulled the cover up to my chin.

The last thought I remembered before I fell asleep was that it felt nice to know that no matter how wild, strong or cold the storms I created was it wouldn't keep my family away from trying to help me.

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**A/N: Okay my first one-shot in a while and I'll try to get into writing more but right now I'm having some personal problems at home that I'm trying to deal with. So please have patience and keep your eyes open for my re-write of my TMNT-Frozen story.**


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